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History Of Railways By E L Cornwell Heavy Oversize w/dust jacket
History Of Railways By E L Cornwell
509 Pages Indexed
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket Name written on first blank page
Copyright 1976
Contents
INTRODUCTION7
1 EARLY RAILWAYS
Bull-head to Flat-bottom10
The Start of Locomotive Power14
The Stockton Et Darlington17
George Stephenson20
Rainhill Trials22
The First Main-line Locomotives24
The Lithographs of J. W. Carmichael 29
The Railway Mania32
The First Railways in Europe34
The First Railways in America36
2 THE DEVELOPMENT
OF THE LOCOMOTIVE
IN THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY
British Steam Before World War I41
The British 0-6-047
British Single Drivers53
French Compounds59
The American 4-4-065
3 PROGRESS AND
EXPERIMENT IN THE
TWENTIETH-CENTURY
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
GWR 4-6-0s73
Great American Passenger Engines79
Articulated Locomotives87
The American Mallets93
The Union Pacific Big Boys98
Great Locomotives that Failed103
Steam Streamliners109
Austerity Locomotives115
The BR 2-10-0 Locomotive121
4 DIESEL, ELECTRIC
AND TURBINE
LOCOMOTIVES
Birth of Electric Traction129
Steam Turbine Locomotives134
The Birth of the Diesel137
Gas Turbine Locomotives144
The Turbotrain at Last147
Modern Electric Power152
5 PASSENGER
VEHICLES
Development of Passenger
Services to 1900158
Development of the Railway Carriage 163
Royal Trains173
The North American Railway Carriage 177
The Pullman Story182
Double Deck Trains185
Travelling Post Offices190
6 CHANGING PATTERNS
IN FREIGHT OPERATIONS
Development of Freight Services
to 1900194
Twentieth Century Freight Services 198
Coal by Rail201
Piggyback Operations of North
America205
Railways and the Container
Revolution209
Automatic Wagon Identification215
7 RUNNING A RAILWAY
Railways at War221
Railway Signalling Early Days
to 1890229
Signalling 1890-1940233
The Big Power Box237
Planning the Timetable243
Inside a Diesel Locomotive Depot247
Railway Workshops251
A Chapter of Accidents256
8 THE RAILWAYS OF BRITAIN AND IRELAND
The LMS261
The LN ER267
The Southern Railway273
The Great Western Railway277
Railways of Scotland281
British Rail in Pictures291
The Railways of Ireland293
9 THE RAILWAYS OF EUROPE
France Fastest Inter-City301
French Railways in Pictures306
Minor French Railways309
Italian Railways in Pictures314
Spain Europe's Last Stronghold
of Steam318
The Narrow Gauge in Portugal325
Railways through the Alps329
Mountain Railways of Switzerland 334
Railways of Austria339
North European Railways in Pictures 344
German Railways in, Pictures349
East European Railways in Pictures 354
10 THE RAILWAYS
OF ASIA
The Trans-Siberian Railway358
Turkish Railways in Pictures362
The Railways of India365
Asian Railways in Pictures370
Japan's New Tokkaido Line373
11 THE RAILWAYS
OF AFRICA
Big Steam in Southern Africa379
Rhodesian Railways in Pictures385
South African Railways in Pictures 386
12 THE RAILWAYS OF AUSTRALASIA
Railways of Australia393
Railways of New Zealand405
13 THE RAILWAYS
OF AMERICA
Burlington Northern413
Union Pacific, Southern Pacific,
Santa Fe417
The Penn Central422
Railways of Canada427
South American Railways in Pictures 432 Railways on the Roof of the World 435
14 RAILWAY
ARCHITECTURE
The World's Largest Tunnels441
The World's Great Bridges447
British Stations451
Italian Stations456
French Stations460
German Stations463
15 THE GREAT EXPRESSES
The Flying Scotsman469
The Brighton Belle474
The Settebello479
The Talgos484
The Orient Express489
Trans Europe Express493
The Twentieth Century Limited498
Zephyrs, Hiawathas and Florida
Specials501
The CPR Canadian506
INDEX510
Early Railways, development of the locomotive in the 19th century, progress and experiment in the 20th century steam locomotive, Diesel electric and turbine locomotives, passenger vehicles, changing patterns in freight operations, running a railway, Railways of Britain, Ireland, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, America; railway architecture, the great expresses, more.
THE story of railways as we understand them today spans only about a century and half, and yet in that relatively brief period of history the whole pattern of man's social and industrial life has undergone substantial and, indeed, revolutionary changes. It is well known that steam power in the broad sense (and the steam railway in particular) was the principal agent of this transition, and it is perhaps this close link between the railway and so much of our recent history which accounts for the exceptional popular interest which railways have always been capable of generating.
Not surprisingly, the opening days of the earliest railways, the Stockton and Darlington and the Liverpool and Manchester for instance, created scenes of wild enthusiasm and celebration and such was the novelty of this new form of transport that it would be fair to say that many of those early trains would have carried a few passengers who were not going anywhere in particular, but were merely intent upon sampling the pleasurable experience of travel in the abstract. Travelling from town to town had not hitherto been an experience to savour. By horse or on foot, it had been at best an expensive inconvenience and at worst sheer hard work. But now, with the coming of railways, it became an opportunity for relaxation and reflection, for discovery and adventure, a chance to see new ways of life which had not previously been open to most of our forebears, crammed as they were into cities and into exploitative ways of ekeing a living. Robert Louis Stevenson summed up the brave new world which was to be glimpsed through the carriage window in his poem 'From a Railway Carriage' - a century later Colin Gifford succeeded, magnificently and definitively, in expressing it photographically in his books Each a Glimpse . . . and its sequel . . . And Gone For Ever. It is this sampling of diverse modes of experience through the medium of the railway which, amongst other things, this book sets out to capture one wonders how much the legendary 'white collar conservative' - the feted Mr Businessman -misses as he is whisked along by Inter-City, poring over cash flows and credit ratings, ignoring the world which flashes by in its infinite variety outside his smoked-glass carriage window.
For those who love them, railways are an endless store of moments -William Whitelaw (failed again) limping off its northbound train at Peterborough, to be replaced by a B1 in ruinous condition, Spadina roundhouse, steam-wreathed and darkly mysterious, floating by the frozen window, five General Motors diesels on the front of a hundred cars and flatbeds, bound for Detroit, whining, throbbing and hooting through flashing lights and midnight level-crossing bells, as John Fahey plays on FM radio and the world is -briefly - one. Maybe in these pages there will be a reminder of your own moments of railway magic, diverse, illogical, whatever they may be. Small wonder that as well as the benefits to travel and commerce which the railway gave, it also offered us something worth spending a few moments to watch. In the nineteenth century, no piece of railway art worthy of the name could be complete without a knot of fascinated onlookers standing idly by ; np railway terminus today, be it Victoria, Paris Nord or Grand Central, is without its contingent of boys of all ages at the buffer stops. Beside every lineside fence, it seems, there lurks a gricer with his camera.
Undoubtedly, one of the principal factors in this by no means entirely specialist interest in railways has been the steam locomotive, and this book is unashamedly orientated towards this marvellous machine. Although easily the most animated of man's inventions, breathing forth fire and smoke and trumpeting its noisy way across the world, the steam locomotive is a reassuringly manageable beast. Its powerful splendour can be harnessed, but only through discipline, control and organisation. One cannot simply climb into the cab and drive away, as one would with a motor car or even a diesel several hours of specialised preparation of the locomotive are necessary before it is ready for the road. While it may be technically identical to other locomotives of the same class, each individual locomotive is full of its own handling characteristics and it requires the great skill and attention of its driver to bring out its best performance. The progress of a train requires the painstaking co-operation of signalmen, train reporters and station staff as well as the members of the train crew. This harmony and orderliness of operation must certainly be an influential element in the attraction which the railway has held for so long, offering a sense of stability in a world becoming increasingly chaotic.
Even though the decline of steam is evident throughout the world, it has lost nothing of its appeal ; if anything, interest in the steam engine, and in the diesel and electric machines which have replaced it in many parts of the world, is increasing. The steam locomotive is for most people the lead-in to other, equally fascinating aspects of railways: the stations, great and small, the complex web of track and signals, the carriages and wagons, the timetables and above all the personalities behind these things. Because the railway is so visibly present and active, we are led to wonder how and why it all works, where the trains go when they pass out of sight and what means are employed for them to get there.
The fifteen sections of this book do not pretend to answer all the questions which might arise, but they look at many things which may not be immediately obvious and might in turn pose a few questions themselves. The book has been divided basically into two halves. The first part deals with the history and development of railway technology, from the days before the locomotive was even invented to the complicated railway hardware of today. It brings out the significant changes in the development of motive power by detailed studies of principal locomotive types, looks at the changing patterns of freight and passenger services over the years, and emphasises the important role which such matters as signalling and timetabling have played in the evolution of railways. Building on this historical background, the second half of the book moves on to look at the myriad ways in which the railways of the world have established themselves and coped with the particular problems which each country presents for their railway systems. The breadth and variety is exceptional, ranging from the antique narrow-gauge lines of Portugal to the 150mph super railways of Japan, from the big steam engines still to be found in the Andean heights to the modern diesels working across The Nullarbor Plain.
Indeed, the by-ways and sidelines present some of the railway's most fascinating angles: those experimental locomotives which did not quite succeed, the plush interiors of first-class Victorian carriages (and the spartan accommodation in the third class), even the accidents and disasters which have periodically shocked a world accustomed to the exceptional safety record of rail travel. Many people will have seen engravings of the old horse-drawn waggons on eighteenth-century railways, bin how many will realise that horses were still being used by railways in various parts of the world until well into the second half of the present century? Do many people know how the American railroad system keeps track of its two million freight vehicles? Or remember the now sadly departed express on which kippers were de rigueur for breakfast? It is the careful little details like this which make this book an endless source of new knowledge for even the most dedicated railway enthusiast.
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